


The Dead Lifeline

by Chiyo_Yume



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, This Is Sad, be prepared.
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-16
Updated: 2018-08-20
Packaged: 2019-06-28 02:40:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15698436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chiyo_Yume/pseuds/Chiyo_Yume
Summary: AU where in S7 Ep 10, Lances red lion does not come to save him, and troubles pursue from there.





	1. Before the Deadline

As Keith quickly sat in his chair in the Black Lion, he turned on the intercom.

"Is everyone in there lions?"

He heard multiple yeps, yeahs, and sures from 3 other paladins, but he quickly realized he was missing one.

"Lance? Whats going on?"

There was no reply.

"Lance...?"

"He still has not gotten in contact with his lion." Shiro quickly responded from the Garrison headquarters. 

"Well...Do we know WHY it's taking him so long?!"

"Keith... We are not sure. He hasn't responded yet. Just keep up with our plan and I'll keep you all informed." 

Keith reluctantly grunted a yes, and went on his way, until he heard Lance shouting over the intercom.

"....VERONICA WATCH OUT!!" A huge crash came after.

With Veronica's scream shrewd the air, alongside Lances quick yelp.

For a couple moments, silence pierced the intercoms. 

"LANCE!" Allura then spurted out. 

"SHIRO?? WHATS GOING ON??" Keith huffed at Shiro over the intercom.

"His....Intercom with us went silent...Their vehicle must have flipped... Something must have happened..." Shiro was clearly at a lost, not knowing what had happened. 

Hunk, Allura, Shiro, and Pidge kept calling out to Lance and Veronica, to see if they could get any type of response. The calls only made a ping and pang inside Keiths heart ring, his heart beat already being wild. Funny thing, Keiths heart. It was always like a wild animal, reaching for a emotion and a simple feeling that his brain clearly told him was false. Keiths voice, being raw and unable to speak, was one of these moments that his heart was fighting him back. 

"Lance....? Lance... Please call out to us buddy.." Keith finally responded through the intercom, waiting for the answer.

\-----------------------------------

Lance woke up, groggy with his head pounding. His vision opened up slowly, to a blank desert landscape on Earth, with a few telephone poles off in the distance. Closely, he could see a dust rising up, with parts of the vehicle he was in. Blubbering background noise, which slowly Lance could make out the sounds of his team mates yelling in the background, as if he was in trouble. After his vision cleared slightly, Lance stood up slowly to notice how sore his body was. His mind slowly cleared, with still a pang of a headache, as he looked up to the blue sky.

"Lance....? Lance... Please call out to us buddy.." Lance could hear Keith clearly, sounding highly concerned. Lance looked around slowly, to try to make out what happened, when he suddenly realized his missing sister.

"Veronica..?" He called out, slightly still a bit confused, the dust on his blue paladins uniform falling off a bit.

"Veronica!" He called, as he looked behind him, seeing the car he was previously in, banged up from the attack Sendak had sent, in a small riven in the desert. He saw Veronica, outside the vehicle unconscious. Lance then remembered the situation he was in. Searching. Red Lion. Veronica. Attack. Dust. Deadline.

As Lance ran to Veronica, his head was pounding, and his bones throbbing. He knew he need to protect Veronica. He needed to. 

He knelt beside her, grabbing her body in his arms, softly calling her name. He could still hear the other paladins calling for him, seemingly in the distance. Lance checked Veronica's breathing, to be reassured that she was, in fact, still breathing. As Lance softly heard her call out to him, Lance saw a quick beam of purple light besides his face, hitting the ground not to far from where he was at. He instantaneously looked up at the dunes to the right and front of him, to see Galara empire soldiers and robotics firing at him. 

He hastily put up his shield to protect Veronica, and pulled out his bayard, turning into his gun. He placed the shield in the ground in front of himself, to then start shooting at the Galara soldiers and robots, taking down a few. 

Lance quickly noticed on his right a Galaran ship, coming down the riven right where he and Veronica's was, ready to crush them both in their path. The ship fired two beams, going on either side of them, and creating a dust storm covering Lances view. Lance quickly rushed away from Veronica's side and the dust cloud, and fired at the purple spacecraft, with no avail. He would have no time to run away. He was stuck. 

Funny thing, Lance. He was like a wild animal. He often fought and fought until he had nowhere to go but to face his reality, his truth. He wanted nothing else but to run from the realities that the universe dealt him, so he always kept fighting them off. He kept fighting until he was cornered at this very moment.

As the vehicle was about the hit Lance, he grabbed Veronica's arm, and threw her towards the rocky wall near by, turning on his intercom.

"I'm sorry guys. My deadline has come. I'll see you guys next time."

The fellow paladins stopped calling out for him, as his intercom had a slight glitching yelp, and then complete silence.

"Lance....?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for reading my first fanfiction hhhh!  
> I'm not sure if I will continue writing, but sound off below if you would like me to continue the rest of this!
> 
> Comments and feedback are my life blood. :,)


	2. Arctic Silence

Keiths body went cold, the piercing yelp haunting his head. Was he in a horror movie, or was this a joke. One of Lances horrible, terrible jokes?

"Lance......?" Keith called out.

No response.

"Lance this isn't a joke..." Pidge countered back, clearly not in the mood. 

The silence was unbearable.

Shiro broke the silence reluctantly, while clearly trying to stay sane.

"Alright team I..... We need to keep going..... Paladins, keep up with our plan. We will devise a team to find Lance and Veronica while the rest of us will get the Atlas up and running. Remember, we have a war to win." 

Keith softly nodded and kept on his way. He needed to fight the urge, this wild animal inside him, to find Lance, to be sure this is a joke, to hold him tight and never let go. So he turned left, and continued on towards the mission.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

The battle nearly was lost. After fighting Sendak, a robot similar to Lotor's Voltron remake, flew down from space, and nearly had the 4 lions in ruins. The Atlus thankfully, had their back and in the end they won.

Shiro sent a team of 4 pilots to find Lance, and before the battle was over, they found him and Veronica. Veronica after some simple first aid and some sleep, she was awake and well. Lance meanwhile, was near death when he was found. His back was snapped in too many places to count, and all his organs were barely functioning. 

Lance, clearly near death, decided to stand up once again. Will he, a cornered animal, come out of the cage once more to fight, or come out and finally face the colossal truths?

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

Keith barged into the Garrison Hospital, much like a rampaging bear, hoping and wishing to see that dumb idiots face again, alive and willing to give him some half-ass joke. Keith's hand was sweating, with dust covering himself head to toe. He had to know Lance was alright. He had to.

"Where is Lance Mcclain?" Keith asked the front desk lady impatiently.

The lady, (who was on the phone) put the phone away from her mouth and started painstakingly searching through her computer where Lance was. 

Each button clicked made Keith feel like he was going insane.

The monotonous feel, creating more anxiety than he anticipated.

 

Slowly. 

 

Each button clicking on and on.

 

And on.

 

And on.

"Room 2386 sir." She announced at last as Keith already was bolting up the stairs.

Each step continued, on and on, like a transcending hell that never ended. When was he ever going to reach his room? Are these stairs forever going to go on, not letting him know the truth?

The anxiety filled his shoes, slowly climbing towards his neck, drowning the sense out of him.

As the steps finally reached the 2nd floor, he recklessly rushed through the hospital, and found 2386, to only find in empty.

"Hey!" Keith called out to a nurse nearby, grabbing her arm.

"Where did the patient in room 2386 go?!" She pulled her arm away from him hastily, and sighed.

"I believe he went into surgery a few hours ago? It was not looking good for him kid so I suggest you go home." The women's baby blue and lavender surgical scrubs harshly moved away from Keith's vision, as he slowly looked down. Not looking good? A few hours ago? What does she mean by this?

As she walked away, Keith went into Lances room and grabbed the clipboard at the front of the room. Maybe that will help him understand the situation better. Hopefully.

Keith sat down on a chair near the window sill on the other side of the room, holding the clipboard in his hands. He slowly started to breath in and outwards, trying to calm himself down before reading the clipboard. He needed to stay focused. 

He started to notice his hair, probably sticking in every direction, and the anxiety stricken aroma around him. 

Slowly the hospital room came into sight, with the sickly medical air, beige tiles, and white walls. The sounds of many hospital staff running around was off in the distance. A TV stood in front of the room, off, while no bed was in the room. Keith guessed the bed was with Lance, where ever he was. 

Hospitals feel like a new universe, like time never stops but always keeps going. Its as if its on a different astral plane entirely. Its quite strange really.

Flash's of the battle he just fought raced his mind out of nowhere, with the explosions blinding his vision, the sight of the Atlus raining down from the sky, becoming a robot. His head ached from the memory. The screams of his 3 other team mates still echoing in his mind, with one word climbing up his spine, pulling his heart down with grief and anxiety. 

"Deadline..." Keith muttered. What did Lance mean by this? Did he purposefully put himself into this situation, and why? Why would Lance word that moment like this? Why would he be willing to leave them, so readily? 

Frustrated, Keith looked down at the clipboard in his hand, barely making out the messily written words. 

"Multiple vertebral compression fractures, fractures in thoracic cage- Immediate surgery - Many other problems occurring as well. "

Keith stared at the sheet of white paper for a minute.

What could have possible happened to Lance that created so many problems, that the doctors can't even write all of them down? Keith set the clipboard down on the nearby window sill, and threw his head back, looking up at the ceiling. 

Tears welded up in his eyes, but he knew he needed to stay focused. He was just checking up on his team mate. Then he was going to head out of the hospital, and act totally fine, right? 

As he was processing what had occurred, when Keith heard a hospital door open, and he had this feeling, a moment of udder strangeness, that he should walk outside the room and look around.

So Keith stood up, hearing his stiff bones crack all the way up. He set his helmet down, as he wiped some wetness away from his eyes. Not today he told himself. He started towards the door, wondering what he would do once he's outside the room. 

As he rounded the corner, he felt his heart skip a beat. Down the painstakingly long hallway, Keith could see Lance, in a sky blue hospital gown, standing by himself around the clutter of nurses and patients rushing around him. Lance's arctic chatoyant eyes painfully glared at Keith, creating a calm feeling inside him. He felt like eggnog on Christmas morning and beautiful sunsets on a cloudy day. 

"Lance....?" Keith whispered, in awe wondering how Lance could be standing up. More of, if he even should be standing up. Keith started walking towards Lance, turning more into a soft run, staring into his brilliant eyes. Lance put up his hand, beckoning towards Keith to stop, looking away towards the ground. 

Keith tried walking towards him, but invisible chains held him back, making him unable to move. Keith felt stuck, a hurricane of hurt, making him want to hug Lance, but unable too. Lance then smiled, looking back at Keith, and mouthed something towards him. Keith's heart cried out to him like a wild animal. Keith tried yelling to him, but his words came out as empty promises. Nothingness.

Lance chuckled a bit, then started walking left towards a nearby window, making Keith become wide-eyed with silence. 

Lance smiled once more, and spoke, his words being so clear and vibrant of love, but with a tint of good bye.

"Deadline, remember?" Keith's eyes teared up as he saw Lance.

He opened the window.

Smiled into the sunset.

Looked back at Keith.

Smiled.

Then leaned forward, 

his blue gown slowly ruffled through the window, 

as he then was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for the love and support on the first part! I wrote the first part and considered not posting it because I have VERY low confidence in my writing, but I am so glad I did. The support has been so much more than I would have ever thought. Thank you.
> 
> I hope this chapter held up to your expectations (and didn't break your heart too much huhu). I will be posting the next chapter for this on Monday! 
> 
> Comments, questions, and feedback are my lifeblood, and I'll see you all on Monday. ;)
> 
> (BTW; 2386 was when Keith said 'We had a bonding moment' lol. (Episode 6, 2:38 ) )


	3. Searching

Soft buzzing of words echoed his mind, the black seeming infinite.

After Lance...., he could only see the dark. The chains seemingly were gone, but where was he suppose to go rush to now?

Keith sat down towards the blacked ground, and held his head, a screaming high note inside of his head contentiously echoing. His heart felt empty, like a bullet hole thru a wild animal. Panic etched into his very being, and he was ready to give up, for the very first time.

The buzzing became more and more infinite into his mind, and all of a sudden, hands grabbed onto Keith's shoulders.

"KEITH! WAKE UP!" He heard someone call, making his eyes shoot open and his back arch forward. The panic was so sudden, and explosive. Keith's eyes darted around, feeling a sort of searching insanity.

"KEITH! Are you alright?" His eyes traveled to where he heard his name, seeing Allura. Keith, after seeing he was alright, leaned back into a chair a little. Where was he again?

"Keith! Are you..... okay?" He looked over to Pidge, whom was on the left side of him huddling around Hunk. Both of them gave him a worrying look. Keith started to nod slowly, wiping the waves of sweat over his forehead.

Keith took a look around him, trying to ground himself. He saw the boring beige hospital walls, and the window next to him. The TV turned onto a Latina music channel, muted, with still no bed inside the room. The rush of nurses still softly around him, with the the screaming high note retreating inside his head. How did he end up here?

"Keith... what happened?" He looked over to Shiro, who was kneeling next to Keith on his right. Keith slowly started to talk, cautious, but also not knowing exactly what happened either.

"I um... I had a bad dream is all. I came in here to wait for Lance to get back from his surgery, and I must have fallen asleep... I'm sorry." Keith noticed his voice was hoarse, like he had been screaming. Everyone nodded to what Keith had said, still looking a bit worried. He looked over to the left to his sore arm, seeing chain like marks. Strange.

"Well make sure to sit down for a while. I know Lance is in a bad position, but I want to make sure my other paladi- no- friends are in a good place. " Shiro looked in Keith's eyes as he said this, confirming that what he said had been heard. Keith nodded again, still lost in his thoughts a bit. Shiro nodded again while standing up, walking towards the wall to lean against it. 

Keith then looked at Coran, who was in the background near the door holding the clipboard from earlier, putting his hand up to his mouth. Everyone else, in their typical clothes, started to hang out around the room, waiting for any news.

Keith looked over to the window, trying to figure out how much time had past. The sunset was beautiful, with the Arizona sand dunes whisking up from delicate winds, reminding Keith of Lances cheekbones reflecting the sunset seemingly just moments earlier. He had to let everyone know what had happened. Eventually.

Keith's mind slowly searched and recalled how he got back into the room, and how he fell asleep back into this awful hospital chair. How was it so... unseemly that moments ago Keith could feel his very breath being taken away, his whole body being held back by a invisible force? Keith grimaced at the memories, remembering how real they felt.

Keith wondered if it was only a dream, remembering how Lance had been standing. He was suppose to be in surgery from what he had heard, right? Keith thought of reasons why Lance......, but remembered how many injuries he had. Keith remembered the way Lance had said deadline again, like it was his final moments. Keith understood in a way. Keith knew that he would understand his want to leave after everything, he knew that everyone eventually left him. Keith knew that he would forgive Lance for leaving so willingly, one day.

Coran broke the silence, creating a jolt in Keith to remember the situation he was in. He needed to stay focused on the task at hand.

"Hey paladins, I'm not quite sure if Lance will....um.... come out of this one, if you know what I mean...." Coran slipped the clipboard back into the doorways slot, and backed into a wall, looking around at everyone.

"What do you mean, 'won't come out of this one?'" Hunk responded, looking very concerned, tears forming around his eyes. Keith was reminded how Hunk had been so close with Lance since they were young. 

"Well.... It mentions on the clipboard how severe his injuries are, and judging how long he's been in surgery, he.... must not be doing well. I'm sorry everyone."

Everyone took a step back, processing what Coran had concluded. 

It was silent for a moment. That was before Keith, still sitting down, felt another strange feeling. He had a overwhelming feeling to look towards the right, and if he didn't, fate would depend on it. 

As he did, he felt a force close around him, and the whole world went black around him. The only light around was Lance whom was still wearing his hospital gown. His whole body was grey, like a cloud on a raining day. He was clawing at the far wall, his back towards Keith. He looked like a cornered animal, searching for something, anything. Someone. Looking at his friend, Keith felt a glacier coldness surround him.

"Lance...?" Keith breathed faintly. Lance turned around frantically, tears drowning his face. His face was stone clear with anguish, with his eyes, oh, his eyes, a violent arctic blue, shining through the darkness to Keith.

"KEITH!!" Lance shouted, his voice echoing across the dark room. Lance reached out towards Keith, complete agony covering his face. Lance started crawling over to Keith, with a clear want of someone else's body heat. Keith stood up from his seat, and started to race to Lance, slowly feeling the chains slither around him again. 

Keith pushed the chains off, wanting to for once, follow his wild heart. As each chain was pushed off, more followed. Keith could feel the icy heat of bruises forming on his skin.

"LANCE!!" Keith bellowed sorrowfully, being dragged away from Lance. 

"KEITH!" Lances voice echoed frantically, his radiant eyes becoming farther and farther away from view.

Keith kept feeling the darkness encompassed around him, slowly feeling hopelessness swallow him up, panic rising an-

Keith gasped as he stood up, seeing the hospital room again. He looked quickly to see if Lance was in the room, not seeing him in the far right wall like he was previously. The burn of bruises ached his skin. What in the hell had happened? What are these 'visions' he kept having? 

He could feel everyone's eyes on him, feeling the confusion and sorrow in the air. He had to tell everyone about these, 'visions'. Now. 

"Hey gu-" Keith started, before the hospital door had opened, cutting Keith's sentence off. 

Lance's hospital bed slowly was pushed into the room, following multiple sweating doctors and about 3 nurses who looked exhausted. The rooms emotion drained completely into sorrow. 

Lance had bandages and braces around nearly every part of his body, with only his eyes, nose, and mouth open. Keith noticed his friends eyelids being a strangely pale color. A couples nurses started to set up some machines next to his bed. 

"LANCE!" Allura called out, trying to reach the hospital bed. Shiro held her back as he helped her outside of the hospital room. The tired nurses all politely asked everyone to leave into the hall so the doctors could speak to them.

All the paladins started to walk out of the room respectably. Keith took a moment to glance over Lance once more, his heart beating with a empty feeling. Keith in someway was searching into Lances being, hoping to see some sort of answer to the visions he was having. He looked away and headed left towards the door, knowing his place.

As he walked out, he saw Hunk and Pidge huddling even closer, and everyone in near tears (or in Hunks case, oceans of tears slowly rolling off his cheek).

The doctors huddled around the paladins, surrounding the outside wall near the door to 2386. A small doctor with a black beard and sleeked back black hair started talking.

"Hello everyone... We have been through quite a bit of troubles these past few hours. We would like you all to stay cal-" 

"CALM? YOU, ARE ASKING US TO STAY CALM?!?" Hunk lashed out, surprising everyone. The hospital rooms nearby went silent, hearing Hunk's distress.

"I-....I'm sorry. Continue..." Keith grabbed onto Hunk's arm, comforting him. Pidge huddled closer to him.

"Alright... We do need you to be calm. It may seem as though he is in a bad place, but most of the injuries he has sustained will heal within a month or two. If any of you have read the clipboard, you may have noticed he had multiple broken bones. Out of the many, the worst was in his spine....." The doctor trailed away from the sentence, looking at the other doctors who were all lined up next to him.

Another doctor who had red hair jumped in.

"He um... may need a while before he wakes up..."

"What does that MEAN exactly?!" Shiro demanded, wanting a clear answer from the doctors. 

The black haired doctor looked over to the red haired doctor, as they then both looked over to the others. All of them nodded in unison.

The black haired doctor took a long breath inwards, then exhaled, preparing himself for the truth.

"Lance broken his spine directly in half, and due to this, he may never wake up."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You all knew what you were getting into (sorry not sorry lol).
> 
> In honesty, thank you everyone for your support on the last two chapters! This chapter I felt a bit lost on finding the right words to describe the sudden changing moods, but I think I did alright. Next chapter I've had planned since I first started writing this, so watch out. ;)
> 
> The next update will be Thursday or Friday because I have AP work to finish before school starts *le sigh*.
> 
> Comments, questions, and feedback are my lifeblood, and I'll see you all Thursday or Friday!
> 
> P.S;;  
> I have a tumblr and instagram! If any of you want to follow me on those platforms, the links are below.
> 
> Tumblr: https://chiyo-yume.tumblr.com/
> 
> Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chiyo_yume/


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